Pie crust

One thing that we like quite a lot around here is pie. Fruit pie of any kind. I haven't made many pies lately, mainly because I haven't found a recipe that I liked. It seems like gf pie crust is either a pain to work with, but end result is good, or it's easier to work with and the end result is lousy.

I have found a pie crust recipe that is awesome. Just awesome. It is super easy to work with... you mix it in a mixer and you can actually roll it out in between wax paper. The best part of all? The result is a nice flaky crust.

So after finding this recipe and peaches being in season, what's a girl to do but make a peach pie?


The pie. The top crust didn't even break when I put it on. Yay!




I found this recipe in Annaliese Roberts cookbook, Gluten Free Baking Classics. (I LOVE her cookbook, can you tell?)

Pie crust

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp brown rice flour mix (see below)
2 Tbsp sweet rice flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold butter or Earth Balance Buttery spread
1 large egg
2 tsp lemon juice

Prepare pie pan by greasing. Preheat oven to 375.

Mix flours, sugar, xanthan gum and salt in bowl of electric mixer. Add butter and mix until crumbly (resembling coarse meal)

Add egg and lemon juice. Mix on low speed until dough holds together, it should not be sticky*. Form dough into a ball and place on a sheet of wax paper. Top with 2nd sheet of paper and flatten dough to 1 inch thick.

Roll out dough between the wax paper. Remove top sheet of wax paper and invert dough into pie pan. Remove remaining sheet of wax paper and crimp sides for single crust**.

Bake crust for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, fill, place top crust on and bake as per recipe.

For a bottom pie crust with no top crust, bake at 375 for about 25 minutes or until golden.

* My crust seemed a bit dry when I made it, so I added water a tablespoon at a time until it seemed the right consistency. I ended up adding 2 tbsp.

** This recipe is for a single bottom or single top crust. I had a lot leftover, and was able to make both top and bottom with 1 batch.

Brown rice flour mix:

2 cups brown rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour


Enjoy!

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

Banana bread.....what's not to like? I've tried several recipes for gf banana bread over the years. Most of them have tasted pretty good, but the texture wasn't the strong point and they always seem to fall apart. But try, try again. :) I have been recently browsing the gluten free goddess's blog and drooling over all of her tasty recipes. She had a banana bread recipe with chocolate chips that I knew I had to try. Why? Because it was also a vegan recipe, meaning no dairy. I am by no means vegan. But with our dairy issues in this household I appreciate vegan recipes a whole lot these days. :) Plus it had chocolate chips in it. What else could I do?

It turned out to be the best gluten free/dairy free banana bread I have ever had. It's been a while since I've had wheat banana bread, but I might even dare to say that it was better than that. Maybe it was the chocolate chips. But the texture was great, it didn't fall apart as soon as you thought about slicing off a piece either. The loaf lasted 2 days.




Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

Here is the original recipe from the gluten free goddess
Her recipe is vegan, so has no eggs in it. We have chickens and have an abundance of good eggs, so I changed it to add some eggs.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a standard bread loaf pan.

Combine in a large bowl:

3-4 ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1/3 cup light olive oil
1 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs

In a separate bowl:
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour mix
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 rounded teaspoon cinnamon

Add the dry ingredients into the banana mixture and stir until smooth.

Add in 1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the center of a preheated oven for an hour, until the loaf is firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean

Cool the loaf on a wire rack. Slice and enjoy!

Thank you, gluten free goddess for this awesome recipe!